Without a family: an Orphan
by KBoogie
Summary: Mother's Day brings back memories of Aika's deceased parents, so Vyse takes her on a trip she'll never forget...
1. 2 days

****** I DO NOT OWN ANYO OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY SO PLEASE WITH THAT SAID, DON'T SUE ME I HAVE NO MONEY**********************************************

Now, onto….

Without a family: an Orphan

It was a beautiful day on Sailor's Isle. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Mother's Day was just around the corner...

"Hey Vyse!" Fina yelled to the sailor who had just exited his house. 

"Hi Fina, what's up?"

"I was just wondering, you know, with Mother's Day coming up and all, what are you getting your mother?"

Scratching the back or his head, Vyse thought for a moment. "Uh... I have no clue."

Fina sighed. "Well I was hoping I could get some ideas from you. Maybe I'll ask Aika..." 

His eyes suddenly widened. "NO!" Vyse yelled so loud that it startled her. 

"What? What's wrong?"

"You can't ask Aika, remember? Her parents... they're..." Vyse slowly dropped his head.

"Oh my, I forgot. I am so sorry." 

"It's okay. Just don't say anything about Mother's day around her, I don't want her to think about it." Fina nodded. "Okay Vyse, I won't." She turned around and walked off to think about an idea for a gift. Vyse sighed. This holiday was always the worst one for Aika. He hoped that she hadn't remembered that it was in 2 days. He felt so awful. It wasn't his fault, but it hurt him like it hurt her. He hated seeing Aika so depressed, and knowing there was nothing he could do made it that much worse. 

Walking back to his room Vyse spotted Aika, checking her hair in the reflection of the house window. Peering through it, she saw the calendar, and a red circle around a day two days away. Mother's Day. Her eyes became puffy and she couldn't help them getting watery. She looked past herself in the window and saw Vyse staring at her. Turning around she greeted him with a fake smile and walked past him without another look. Vyse just blinked. "She must have remembered," he said to himself.

Later that day, Aika had gone up to the look out to stare into the horizon, which now was getting a light orange color. She was just in time for the sunset. Sunsets always made Aika think of her mom. Her mom was beautiful. She always had a smile on her face, and was extremely spunky and outgoing. (Sounds familiar doesn't it) Aika sighed and lowered her head so that her face lie in the palms of her hands. Tears slowly fell, and then rapidly increased. She missed her parents. She hated being an orphan, and Mother's Day always seemed to remind her of the huge part of her life that was missing. Just she began to breakdown once more, the sounds of footsteps stopped her. It was Vyse. She didn't even have to turn around to know that.

"Aika… please don't cry…" he said, standing behind her.

"I can't help it Vyse. Ever since my parents died, I've had this empty hole in my heart, and nothing to fill it with." She had both sadness and a hint of anger in her voice.

"You know that _my_ family is _your _family, Aika. We all love you. I don't mind sharing." he laughed a little as he put his strong hands on her shoulders, trying to brighten the mood. 

"I know that Vyse. But like you said. It's _your_ family. And I don't want _your_ family. I want mine…" And with that, she stood up, walked past him, and climbed down from the look out.

Vyse stood there dumbfounded. He didn't bother running after her, for he knew she wouldn't talk to him anymore tonight. He just sat down, and watched as the stars randomly appeared in the midnight sky…he closed his eyes, felt the breeze, and drifted off to sleep… but only after he shed a single tear.

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Well this is my first SoA fic. I love the game, but I'm not the best writer lol. Any comments? Reviews? Anything?? I'd greatly appreciate it!! 

Well then, till the next chapter….. BYE!


	2. A little letter of love

***YIKES… I just remembered that Fina's parents are gone too… but they aren't now in my fic ok?? Alright, now that that's settled…. I DO NOT OWN SKIES OF ARCADIA OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. DON'T SUE ME I HAVE NO MONEY*****

Read on my friends!!

Neither Aika nor Vyse slept well that night. Aika still could not stop thinking, dreaming about her parents and Vyse was worried about his best friend. He was stuck in a rut. Caught between helping his friend, and letting her handle her own demons. It was her life… but he was a part of it. His duty as a best friend was to help when needed, and to always be available for anything and everything. But right now he was scared. Aika was very distant, and this was the first time she had ever felt this way about her parents being gone.

Since he knew she wouldn't talk to him in person, he pulled out a pen and paper and began to write:

__

Dear Aika,

I know that you've been thinking about your parents a lot, and that you miss them. I can totally understand that, but I want you to know that me and my family have always been here for you, and we always will. And I know you said that you didn't want MY family, and that you wanted your own, but like I said, MY family IS YOUR family. We've taken care of you for years now. Has it always bothered you? If it has, I could never tell. You sure put on a great mask. It must be this age we're at… almost adults. My mom says it's a very emotional age. I'm scared too Aika, but my parents will fill that empty hole that your parents took with them. And I will do whatever I can to help you. I don't want you be like this forever. I just don't get it. Why did it just start to bother you this much? It never has before! It frustrates me seeing you give in so easily Aika. This isn't like you. Look inside yourself and find what you need to survive. You already have it, right here in front of you. Find it.

You aren't alone. I will always be with you, no matter what. I can't stress that anymore than I have. I ask you to come back to me Aika. Forget your troubles and look ahead to the future. You can't do anything about the past. You can either run from it, or learn from it. You choose.

With love,

Vyse

He took a deep breath and folded the letter in half.

"I hope that'll do it." he said to himself. But he was confident that he had done what he could at that time. Aika is pretty damn stubborn. God forbid she let anyone into her personal business… but then it hit him.

"Fina!" he said. She was a girl. Girls share stuff like that. It's perfect! Girls can talk about anything. They have those… connections. Why hadn't he thought of that before? He had to convince Fina to talk to Aika. It was worth a shot.

"Fina?" Vyse called as he knocked on her room door. "Fina, are you in there?" 

There was no answer.

"Geez, where is she?" He then spotted a note and the ground. "Shopping at the market." 

"Figures…."

Vyse sighed and decided he would search for her later. Right now he had to drop off his letter to Aika.

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Ya ya I know. Its REALLY short. But I can't think of anything right now… plus I got a lot of HW to do. Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate them!! The next chapter should be up within a few days…hopefully. BYE!!


	3. Letter Recieved

*******I DO NOT OWN SoA OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS*******

Vyse stood outside Aika's door with the letter in his hand. He was shaking a bit, and kept taking long deep, breaths to calm himself down. "Come on Vyse, it's just a letter, and it's just Aika…" he said to himself. But it was more than a letter. It was a confession. A confession of his devotion for her. He would do anything for that red headed pirate. Anything. And it wasn't just Aika, it was the girl he had known all his life. The girl who he played with everyday. Aika was the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning, and the last thing he thought about before he slept at night. Taking a huge breath, he slid the letter under her door, and softly knocked twice before bolting away. 

When he had stopped running he was a good 100 yards away, and her peeked from a behind the wall of a house to watch. 

"Uh, Vyse?" It was Fina.

"Yeah Fina?"

"What was that you slid underneath Aika's door?" She a had a sly tone to her voice.

"Well, um, it was just a letter, that's all…"

"Oh. You mean you finally wrote her the letter telling her how much you love her??" Fina began to giggle, which soon turned into laughter.

"What? I do not love her… I… uh…" Vyse's face turned beet red.

"Vyse everyone knows you love Aika! Do her a favor and let her know. It's not just her parents she's missing, she's also missing you."

Vyse though for a moment. He had been really busy lately, and every time Aika had come up to him he would be too busy to talk. Up until yesterday, he never knew Aika was hurting this much. He felt like such a jerk.

"Can't you see Vyse?" Fina continued, "All she wants is for you to comfort her, and tell her you'll never leave her side." And with that final sentence, Fina was gone. 

"Thanks Fina." He whispered under his breath. Now all he had to do was get the balls to go talk to Aika. "It shouldn't be too hard, right?" He thought to himself. He began his walk to Aika's room. 

When he reached the door, he took one last breath and placed his hand on the handle. Just before he had a chance to turn the knob, the door swung open and he fell forward onto a screaming Aika.

"VYSE! YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEA---!" She screamed, but was cut short by glancing at the position they were in. Vyse was head first in her breasts, with his hands on her waist, and her legs were wrapped around him. She gasped and Vyse, who had also noticed their position, quickly jumped up and apologized.

"Oh my gosh I am soo sorry Aika. It's not what it looked like, I just fell down and I had no intention of landing like that or anything I am soooo sorry, so incredibly sorry…" His face was beet red. He stuck out his hand and pulled her up. Aika brushed herself off and sat on her bed, while Vyse continued to apologize.

"Vyse, it's okay. I'm glad you came, I've been needing someone to talk to… and right now, at this moment, you are the perfect one."

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HAHAHA! I KNOW, I KNOW! My chapters are so short and nothing really gets done in them, but I had to send this one or else I never would've finished it. I will try to finish the next chapter as soon as I can, but I have A LOT of homework to do!! TTFN^^


	4. Solution

I DO NOT OWN SKIES OF ARCADIA OR ANYTHING INVOLVED WITH IT, PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME!. THANK YOU AND ENJOY

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Vyse entered Aika's room and pulled a chair up to her bed. Aika sat down on her bed and looked down for a few seconds before she began to speak.

"Vyse, I…I…I know I've been acting odd lately about the whole Mother's Day thing…but I just can't help it. I miss them Vyse, I miss them so much. You will never know how I feel right now. I can't explain it…I just can't…" A single tear was shed, followed by many more. Vyse didn't know what to do. Here she was, crying her eyes out, and there was nothing he could do about it. He decided to take her to the place that always made everything better. The lookout.

"Aika, I want you to come with me to the lookout, ok?"

She sniffed a few times, wiped her eyes, and then nodded. He took her hand and led her out the door.

Up at the top of the lookout the sun was just beginning to set, and the sky was slowly changing from an light blue to a deep purple. This was always Aika's favorite time of day; the time where daylight and night met, and became one. There was more to life than feeling anxiety and worring about what happened in the past; Vyse hope that being here would help her see that. He sat down upon a crate towards the sunset, and she did the same.

"So, Aika," he turned to face her. "I want to help you…I really do…but I'm not quite sure what you need right now…this is the first time since we have met that I have felt like…I'm useless to you. I need you to talk to me, tell me what you need Aika. I would gladly do anything for you…." he took a deep breath and looked straight into her eyes. "I really care about you Aika, and I want you back to normal."

"Vyse… I want to know about my parents. I want to go where they had gone, and see what they saw, and know what they're life was like. I want to feel them Vyse; for the first time in years, I want to know about them." Tears began to swell in her eyes as she stared into his face.

"Alright…I have a proposition for you then…tomorrow…we'll get some information about your parents from mine, and we'll go out on a journey to find what they were all about. How's that sound?" A smile formed on his face. Aika smiled back whiping her eyes, "Sounds wonderful."

Perhaps this is just what she needed. A trip away from her thoughts, away from that island, just her and Vyse. He pulled her into him a gave her a long hug.

"Get a good night sleep Aika, " he said. "Tomorrow starts our adventure to your happiness." He bent down, kissed her cheek, and made his way down the ladder. She smiled, and a few minutes later, left as well.

"_Tomorrow will indeed be the start of the adventure …_"

Wow its been a loooong time since I've updated this! Well, I'm back working on it now bet you all thought I'd never come back…well I am! Sorry for the shortness of this new chapter… I was stuck in a rut about what to write…and so I thought I'd drag this thing out a bit longer, make it a little more exciting.

Well until the next time we meet….tata


	5. Paradise in the distance

I DO NOT OWN SKIES OR ARCADIA OR ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH IT, BESIDES THIS STORY. DON'T SUE- THANKS!

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Aika woke up to a quiet line of knocks on her bedroom door. It must have been early morning, around 6 a.m. because the sky was not quite blue yet. She slowly climbed out of her bed and stumbled towards the door. She opened it only to find Vyse's smiling face, which became clearer as she rubbed her tired eyes.

"Morning!" he happily exclaimed and walked past her and towards her desk chair. "I hope your stuff is packed 'cuz we're shipping out soon."

For a split second Aika had no idea what he was talking about, but she quickly recalled what had been said last night. Remembering so caused her to blush a bit, and she turned away from him to grab some things to stuff into a bag.

Seeing that Aika needed a few minutes, Vyse said to her with a laugh, "I'll be out at the ship when you're ready, just don't be too long." She nodded back to him and hurried to get her stuff together.

After she had finshed, she gave herself the "once-over" look in the mirror, and ran out to the ship. Vyse once again greeted her with a smile, and they boarded onto their new adventure.

"So where are we going anyway?" Aika asked him, with a little bit of anxiety in her voice.

"Wherever you want Aika," replied Vyse, and flashed a smile that made her heart leap.

"Well," she said. "Before we start looking for information on my parents, how bout we go to some place, tropical, and relaxing. A place where I can get my mind off things."

"Hmmm…" thought Vyse. "How about a trip to a wonderful little island I recently discovered myself?

"You discovered an island? When did that happen?"

"Well I went out early this morning and made a route for our journey, and it just so happens that I found the perfect place!" he flashed her that charming smile. "You'll love it."

"Great. I can't wait."

They spent the next few hours sitting on the deck of the ship, talking about how wonderful it was to be an air pirate. They reminisced about the old days when they were children, wishing they could sail the skies like the grown-ups. And then when that day came, they were so grateful for the chance to be legends; which in time they were, and it was well deserved. Life had been very good to them both, and they never forget to thank to skies for what they had been given.

"So, Aika…" Vyse started. "Are you enjoying yourself so far?"

"Oh yes, definitely! This is awesome Vyse. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. He slid his arms around her waist, and pulled them into each other, until they couldn't get any closer. She pulled her head away from his shoulder, and gave him a slightly confused look.

"Vyse, I hope you didn't bring me on this trip to do _this _sort of thing…" She looked in his eyes, and he began to blush. His grip on her loosened, and he took an arm away from her waist to scratch the back of his head.

"Heh…um…sorry…I got a little caught in the moment…" He smiled at her like he wasn't disappointed, but he was. He did want to explore his feelings with her, but that wasn't the reason her brought her out on the ship. He really did want to help her. She felt exactly the same, but for some reason, felt like she needed to make him wait. She didn't want to seem desperate, and she just wanted to enjoy herself without having to worry about what was to happen next between them. They pulled away from each other and avoided eye contact for a few seconds.

Vyse turned away from her and looked out into the sky.

"We'll be there soon." he said, and with that he walked into his cabin. He was angry. He wanted to go further than what Aika seemed to want. _I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. There's not much else I can do…_

Watching Vyse walk away made Aika feel badly.

"I guess we're just gonna have to go where the wind takes us…"

She just wasn't quite ready for all this. It was all coming to her so fast. Being with Vyse, alone, had suddenly made her very aware of what she was doing at all times. It was a feeling she didn't want to let get in the way of this adventure.

Aika turned and looked out to the sea of clouds. To her surprise she saw a tiny island coming into view. It was lush with colors or green, red, purple, and yellow, and made her feel warm inside. Vyse also saw the island from his cabin window. Suddnely he wasn't angry anymore. Instead, he felt glee and a certain sparkle in his eye. For little did they know that this wasn't just any island, it was one that was very special:

Island de Corazon… better known as the Island of the Heart…

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Yes I know, ANOTHER short one lol. But I am planning on starting the next chapter later tonite, so it shouldn't be too long before an update. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm kinda getting stuck on how to go about this next one, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Until then… TATA!


	6. Maddox

I DON'T OWN SKIES OF ARCADIA OR ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH IT, BESDIES THIS STORY. PLEASE DON'T SUE! THANKS

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Aika found herself unable to take her eyes off the quickly approaching island. There was just something about it that made her feel good inside and she just couldn't stop staring at it. She was so trapped in the islands trance that she didn't see Vyse come out onto the deck. At first he said nothing, and just stared at her. She was gorgeous. Every time he looked at her he got butterflies in his stomach. He really liked that red headed pirate, and he hoped that this island would bring on a little more than just a friendship between the two. After a few moments of silence, he finally let his presence be known when he put a hand on her shoulder and announced that they had arrived.

The second they stepped onto the Island de Corazon, all their troubles were whisked away into the clouds. Aika was suddenly overcome with emotion.

"Vyse, it's...beautiful!" A small tear fell from her eye, but she quickly swept it away with her hand.

"I'm really glad you like it Aika." Seeing her smiling like that made his day. "So what do you want to do first?"

"Hmmmmm...well..." Aika scoped out the small island and spotted a flowing waterfall.

"There!" She pointed. "Let's go for a swim...last one in is a rotten egg!" She took off into a sprint, pulling off her clothes as she ran, until all that she had on were her short black spandex and and an undershirt.

"C'mon slowpoke! "she yelled to Vyse over her shoulder as she leapt into the water. He raised an eyebrow and wasted no time getting into his spandex as well, and jumped in right next to her.

"Vyse...I don't know what it is about this place...but it makes me feel...different."

"Yeah I know what you mean, like there isn't a care in the world, and that whatever happens...happens, and it will all be good."

"Exactly..." she said as she swam towards him with a look in her eye that he had never seen before. He didn't quite know what to do as she came closer to him. He couldn't really think; his brain was empty. She slid her hands around his neck. "I'm not sure what's making me do this...but it feels like I should..." she whispered to him with a slightly confused look on her face. He gulped and leaned in towards her. There were centimeters away from locking lips when a huge splash came from beside them, drenching them in water.

"What the..."

A small boy popped up from next to the in the water.

"Um, Vyse, did you know that this island had inhabitants?" asked Aika.

But before he could answer her the small child spoke. "Ahh you must be Captain Vyse and his fiery read headed side kick Aika, no? I'm so glad to see that you made it!'

"Well actually, we are, how did you-"

"Oh that doesn't matter! All that matters is that you're here! We've got loads of stuff planned for you. Come on!" The boy climbed out of the water and it was then that Vyse and Aika noticed what he really was. The kid was a centaur, half man, half horse. He had black hair and deep blue eyes. His human body was an olive color, and his coat was a perfect brown color. He probably wasn't more than 5 feet tall.

"Wow...I didn't know you guys still existed! What, Why, Where..." Aika was speechless at what she saw. She had read about centaurs plenty of times, but she never thought that she'd actually meet one.

"Well," said the boy, "We live here, haha. So I guess, now you know." He stuck out his hand and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Maddox. Just follow me and I'll show you to your quarters. K?" He trotted away with Vyse and Aika following close behind him.

Within a few minutes they came to a clearing where there was a single grass hut, surrounded by gorgeous pink and purple flowers. There was a strong aroma of fruits and sweets, which made Aika and Vyse feel very warm and spirited.

"Wow, this is all too much Maddox...but, how did you know we were coming?" Asked Aika, curious to how much the centaur knew about them.

"Well," started Maddox "When your friend came and checked out the island a few days ago, we studied him from within the forest. You two are the perfect couple for this island, I just know it!"

"Couple...well we aren't exactly a couple..." blushed Vyse.

"Oh, well you may not be now..." said Maddox as he turned away from them and started off back towards the lake. "But you will be." He lasts words were so quiet they were barely audible.

Vyse and Aika glanced at each other with confused looks. Something about this island didn't feel so right.

HA! Bet cha didn't think it would turn out like this huh? Yeah well I was bored...I'm sorry I can't make my chapters longer but I just can't!! Well I guess I'll talk to you when I update! And sorry this one took so long TATA!!


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